{"id":207587,"date":"2026-04-14T00:08:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pope-leo-says-he-has-no-fear-after-trump-labels-him-weak-and-terrible-in-feud-over-iran-war-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T00:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T00:08:27","slug":"pope-leo-says-he-has-no-fear-after-trump-labels-him-weak-and-terrible-in-feud-over-iran-war-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pope-leo-says-he-has-no-fear-after-trump-labels-him-weak-and-terrible-in-feud-over-iran-war-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo says he has 'no fear' after Trump labels him 'weak' and 'terrible' in feud over Iran war – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

BREAKING: Rep. Tony Gonzales says he\u2019s resigning from Congress amid sexual misconduct allegations<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE \u2014 Pope Leo XIV hit back Monday after President Donald Trump<\/a> sharply criticized the first American leader of the Catholic Church as \u201cWEAK on crime\u201d and \u201cterrible for Foreign Policy.\u201d
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Leo, who has been unusually direct in his criticism of the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran<\/a>, told NBC News that he had \u201cno fear of the Trump administration\u201d and vowed to keep up his appeals for peace that he said were rooted in the gospel.
Trump leveled his criticism of the pope in remarks to reporters and on social media.<\/a>
\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess,\u201d the president told NBC News at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, late Sunday.
\u201cWe don\u2019t like a pope that\u2019s going to say that it\u2019s OK to have a nuclear weapon. We don\u2019t want a pope that says crime is OK in our cities. I don\u2019t like it. I\u2019m not a big fan of Pope Leo,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n

He posted earlier on Truth Social<\/a> that \u201cPope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
\u201cLeo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn\u2019t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn\u2019t in the White House, Leo wouldn\u2019t be in the Vatican,\u201d Trump said.
The pope responded while en route Monday to Algeria for the first stop of an 11-day tour of four African nations.
Speaking aboard the papal plane, the pope said \u201cI have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do.\u201d
He added: \u201cWe are not politicians, we don\u2019t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the gospel, as a peacemaker.\u201d
On the flight, he told reporters that Algeria was \u201da very special trip for me” as it was the home of St. Augustine, the inspiration of Leo’s religious spirituality. “He was a bridge of interreligious dialogue, so we must continue to build bridges and reconciliation for all people,\u201d the pope said.
Trump\u2019s heavy criticism did not stop the pontiff from continuing to speak out against the war.
Upon his arrival in Algiers \u2014 the capital of a country ravaged in the past by war \u2014 the pope stopped by the monument to independence from French rule, and said that as conflicts continue to multiply throughout the world, we cannot add resentment upon resentment.
The pope last week criticized Trump\u2019s public threats to \u201cwipe out\u201d Iranian civilization, saying \u201cattacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law<\/a>\u201d and urging people to contact leaders and members of Congress to call for peace.
He has urged Trump to end the war with Iran, and he lamented in his Easter message<\/a> last week that the world is \u201cbecoming indifferent\u201d to violence. Leo had also criticized<\/a> the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policies.
In a brief statement Sunday night, Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, rebuked Trump’s criticism of the pope.
\u201cI am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father,” Coakley wrote. “Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.\u201d
Trump separately posted a picture Sunday night portraying himself as having saint-like powers akin to those of Jesus Christ.
Wearing a biblical-style robe, Trump is seen laying hands on a bedridden man as light emanates from his fingers. A soldier, a nurse, a praying woman and a bearded man in a baseball cap all look on, with American landmarks in the background and the sky filled with eagles and an American flag.
The post prompted controversy from several high-profile conservatives, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally turned critic.
“It\u2019s more than blasphemy,” she said on X,<\/a> reacting to Trump’s post. “It\u2019s an Antichrist spirit.”
The image was later removed from Trump’s page. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the deleted post.
Trump hasn’t always been critical of Leo. At the time, Trump called the pope’s election in May<\/a> “an honor for our country.”
“It\u2019s such a great honor for our country to have an American pope. I mean, what greater honor could there be? That we were a little bit surprised, very happy. But just a great, absolutely great honor,” he said at the time.
A March NBC News poll<\/a> found U.S. voters viewed Leo more favorably than they do Trump. Forty-two percent of respondents said they had positive views of the pope, while just 8% had negative views of him. While 41% of respondents said they had positive views of Trump, 53% said they had negative views of him.
Claudio Lavanga reported from aboard the papal plane, and Tara Prindiville and Raquell Coronell Uribe from Washington.<\/em>
Claudio Lavanga is Rome-based foreign correspondent for NBC News.
Tara Prindiville is a White House producer for NBC News.
Raquel Coronell Uribe is a breaking news reporter.\u00a0
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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BREAKING: Rep. Tony Gonzales says he\u2019s resigning from Congress amid sexual misconduct allegations news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE \u2014 Pope Leo XIV hit back Monday after President Donald Trump sharply criticized the first American leader of the Catholic Church as \u201cWEAK on crime\u201d and \u201cterrible for Foreign Policy.\u201dSubscribe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":207588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-207587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}